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[The following is excerpted from RFC 1718, "The Tao of the IETF", authored by the IETF Secretariat and Gary Malkin of Bay Networks.]
The purpose of this For Your Information (FYI) RFC is to explain to the newcomers how the IETF works. This will give them a warm, fuzzy feeling and enable them to make the meeting more productive for everyone. This FYI will also provide the mundane bits of information which everyone who attends an IETF meeting should know.
There is no membership in the IETF. Anyone may register for and attend any meeting. The closest thing there is to being an IETF member is being on the IETF or working group mailing lists (see the IETF Mailing Lists section). This is where the best information about current IETF activities and focus can be found.
Humble Beginnings
The 1st IETF meeting was held in January, 1986 at Linkabit in San
Diego with 15 attendees. The 4th IETF, held at SRI in Menlo Park in
October, 1986, was the first at which non-government vendors
attended. The concept of working groups was introduced at the 5th
IETF meeting at the NASA Ames Research Center in California in
February, 1987. The 7th IETF, held at MITRE in McLean, Virginia in
July, 1987, was the first meeting with over 100 attendees.
The 14th IETF meeting was held at Stanford University in July, 1989. It marked a major change in the structure of the IETF universe. The IAB (then Internet Activities Board, now Internet Architecture Board), which until that time oversaw many "task forces," changed its structure to leave only two: the IETF and the IRTF. The IRTF is tasked to consider the long-term research problems in the Internet. The IETF also changed at that time.
After the Internet Society (ISOC) was formed in January, 1992, the IAB proposed to ISOC that the IAB's activities should take place under the auspices of the Internet Society. During INET92 in Kobe, Japan, the ISOC Trustees approved a new charter for the IAB to reflect the proposed relationship.
The IETF met in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in July, 1993. This was the the first IETF meeting held in Europe, and the US/non-US attendee split was nearly 50/50.
The Hierarchy
To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it is useful to
understand the overall structure in which the IETF resides. There
are four groups in the structure: the ISOC and its Board of Trustees,
the IAB, the IESG and the IETF itself.
The Internet Society is a professional society that is concerned with the growth and evolution of the worldwide Internet, with the way in which the Internet is and can be used, and with the social, political, and technical issues which arise as a result. The ISOC Trustees are responsible for approving appointments to the IAB from among the nominees submitted by the IETF nominating committee.
The IAB is a technical advisory group of the ISOC. It is chartered to provide oversight of the architecture of the Internet and its protocols, and to serve, in the context of the Internet standards process, as a body to which the decisions of the IESG may be appealed. The IAB is responsible for approving appointments to the IESG from among the nominees submitted by the IETF nominations committee.
The IESG is responsible for technical management of IETF activities and the Internet standards process. As part of the ISOC, it administers the process according to the rules and procedures which have been ratified by the ISOC Trustees. The IESG is directly responsible for the actions associated with entry into and movement along the Internet "standards track," including final approval of specifications as Internet Standards.
The IETF is divided into eight functional areas. They are: Applications, Internet, IP: Next Generation, Network Management, Operational Requirements, Routing, Security, Transport and User Services. Each area has one or two area directors. The area directors, along with the IETF/IESG Chair, form the IESG. Fred Baker is the current IETF/IESG chair.
Each area has several working groups. A working group is a group of people who work under a charter to achieve a certain goal. That goal may be the creation of an Informational document, the creation of a protocol specification, or the resolution of problems in the Internet. Most working groups have a finite lifetime. That is, once a working group has achieved its goal, it disbands. As in the IETF, there is no official membership for a working group. Unofficially, a working group member is somebody who is on that working group's mailing list; however, anyone may attend a working group meeting (see the Be Prepared section below).
Areas may also have Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions. They generally have the same goals as working groups, except that they have no charter and usually only meet once or twice. BOFs are often held to determine if there is enough interest to form a working group.
IETF Mailing Lists
Anyone who plans to attend an IETF meeting should join the IETF
announcement mailing list. This is where all of the meeting
information, Internet-Draft and RFC announcements, and IESG Protocol
Actions and Last Calls are posted. People who would like to "get
technical" may also join the IETF discussion list,
"ietf@ietf.org". This is where discussions of cosmic
significance are held (most working groups have their own mailing
lists for discussions related to their work). To join the IETF
announcement list, send a request to:
ietf-announce-request@ietf.org
To join the IETF discussion list, send a request to:
To join both of the lists, simply send a single message, to either "-request" address, and indicate that you'd like to join both lists.
Do not, ever, under any circumstances, for any reason, send a request to join a list to the list itself! The thousands of people on the list don't need, or want, to know when a new person joins. Similarly, when changing e-mail addresses or leaving a list, send your request only to the "-request" address, not to the main list. This means you!!
The IETF discussion list is unmoderated. This means that anyone can express their opinions about issues affecting the Internet. However, it is not a place for companies or individuals to solicit or advertise. Only the Secretariat can send messages to the announcement list.
Even though the IETF mailing lists "represent" the IETF membership at large, it is important to note that attending an IETF meeting does not automatically include addition to either mailing list.
Newcomers' Orientation
Newcomers are encouraged to attend the IETF Newcomers' Orientation.
As the name implies, it is an orientation for first-time attendees to
IETF meetings. The orientation is organized and conducted by the
IETF Secretariat and is intended to provide useful introductory
information.
The orientation is typically about an hour long and covers a number of topics: what's in the attendee packets, what all the dots on name tags mean and how to read the at-a-glance. There is also discussion about the structure of the IETF and the Internet standards process. There is ample time at the end for questions. The Secretariat also provides handouts which include an overview of the IETF, a list of important files available on-line and hard copies of the slides of the "structure and standards" presentation.
The orientation is held on Sunday afternoon before the registration reception. However, attending the orientation does NOT mean you can go to the reception early!
Dress Code
Since attendees must wear their name tags, they must also wear shirts
or blouses. Pants or skirts are also highly recommended. Seriously
though, many newcomers are often embarrassed when they show up Monday
morning in suits, to discover that everybody else is wearing t-
shirts, jeans (shorts, if weather permits) and sandals. There are
those in the IETF who refuse to wear anything other than suits.
Fortunately, they are well known (for other reasons) so they are
forgiven this particular idiosyncrasy. The general rule is "dress
for the weather" (unless you plan to work so hard that you won't go
outside, in which case, "dress for comfort" is the rule!).
Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes
Some of the people at the IETF will have a little colored dot on
their name tag. A few people have more than one. These dots
identify people who are silly enough to volunteer to do a lot of
extra work. The colors have the following meanings:
Some people have gold stars on their name tags. The stars indicate that those people chaired working groups or BOFs in the IETF area which submitted all of its working group/BOF minutes and area report from the previous meeting first. The stars are the Secretariat's way of saying "thank you" for providing the necessary information quickly.
It is important that newcomers to the IETF not be afraid to strike up conversations with people who wear these dots. If the IAB and IESG members and working group and BOF chairs didn't want to talk to anybody, they wouldn't be wearing the dots in the first place.
In addition, members of the Secretariat wear blue tinted name badges so they can be spotted at a distance.
To make life simpler for the Secretariat, registration packets are also coded with little colored dots. These are only for Secretariat use, so nobody else needs to worry about them. Please, don't peel them off your packet and put them on your name tag.
Terminal Room
One of the most important (depending on your point of view) things
the local host does is provide Internet access to the meeting
attendees. In general, the connectivity is excellent. This is
entirely due to the Olympian efforts of the local hosts, and their
ability to beg, borrow and steal. The people and companies who
donate their equipment, services and time are to be heartily
congratulated and thanked.
While preparation far in advance of the meeting is encouraged, there may be some unavoidable "last minute" things which can be accomplished in the terminal room. It may also be useful to people who need to make trip reports or status reports while things are still fresh in their minds.
Social Event
Another of the most important things organized and managed by the
local hosts is the IETF social event. The social event has become
something of a tradition at the IETF meetings. It has been
immortalized by Marshall T. Rose with his reference to "many fine
lunches and dinners" [ROSE], and by Claudio and Julia Topolcic with
their rendition of "Nerds in Paradise" on a pink T-shirt.
Sometimes, the social event is a computer or high-tech related event. At the Boston IETF, for example, the social was dinner at the Computer Museum. Other times, the social might be a dinner cruise or a trip to an art gallery.
Newcomers to the IETF are encouraged to attend the social event. Everyone is encouraged to wear their name tags. The social event is designed to give people a chance to meet on a social, rather than technical, level.
Agenda
The agenda for the IETF meetings is a very fluid thing. It is sent,
in various forms, to the IETF announcement list three times prior to
the meeting. The final agenda is included in the registration
packets handed out at the meeting. Changes occuring during the meeting are posted on the bulletin board
near the IETF registration desk.
Assignments for breakout rooms (where the working groups and BOFs meet) and a map showing the room locations make up the at-a-glance sheet (included in the registration packets). Room assignments are as flexible as the agenda. Some working groups meet multiple times during a meeting and every attempt is made to have a working group meet in the same room each session. Room assignment changes are not necessarily permanent for the week. Always check the at-a-glance first, then the bulletin board. When in doubt, check with a member of the Secretariat at the registration desk.
Other General Things
The opening plenary on Monday morning is often the most heavily attended
session. It is where important introductory remarks are made, so
people are encouraged to attend.
The IETF Secretariat, and IETFers in general, are very approachable. Never be afraid to approach someone and introduce yourself. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions, especially when it comes to jargon and acronyms!
Hallway conversations are very important. A lot of very good work gets done by people who talk together between meetings and over lunches and dinners. Every minute of the IETF can be considered work time (much to some people's dismay).
A "bar BOF" is an unofficial get-together, usually in the late evening, during which a lot of work gets done over drinks.
It's unwise to get between a hungry IETFer (and there isn't any other kind) and coffee break brownies and cookies, no matter how interesting a hallway conversation is.
IETFers are fiercely independent. It's safe to question opinions and offer alternatives, but don't expect an IETFer to follow orders.
The IETF, and the plenary sessions in particular, are not places for vendors to try to sell their wares. People can certainly answer questions about their company and its products, but bear in mind that the IETF is not a trade show. This does not preclude people from recouping costs for IETF related t-shirts, buttons and pocket protectors.
There is typically a "materials distribution table" near the registration desk. This desk is used to make appropriate information available to the attendees (e.g., copies of something discussed in a working group session, description of on-line IETF-related information, etc.). Please check with the Secretariat before placing materials on the desk; the Secretariat has the right to remove material that they feel is not appropriate.
Mailing Lists and Archives
As previously mentioned, the IETF announcement and discussion mailing
lists are the central mailing lists for IETF activities. However,
there are many other mailing lists related to IETF work. For
example, every working group has its own discussion list. In
addition, there are some long-term technical debates which have been
moved off of the IETF list onto lists created specifically for those
topics. It is highly recommended that everybody follow the
discussions on the mailing lists of the working groups which they
wish to attend. The more work that is done on the mailing lists, the
less work that will need to be done at the meeting, leaving time for
cross pollination (i.e., attending working groups outside one's
primary area of interest in order to broaden one's perspective).
The mailing lists also provide a forum for those who wish to follow, or contribute to, the working groups' efforts, but cannot attend the IETF meetings.
All IETF discussion lists have a "-request" address which handles the administrative details of joining and leaving the list. It is generally frowned upon when such administrivia appears on the discussion mailing list.
Most IETF discussion lists are archived. That is, all of the messages sent to the list are automatically stored on a host for anonymous FTP access. To find out where a particular list is archived, send a message to the list's "-request" address, NOT to the list itself.
InterNIC Archives
There is a tremendous amount of material available for those who
follow the work of the IETF. To make it easier to know what to read
to prepare for a meeting, the InterNIC has established a document
archive. Beginning about one month prior to an IETF meeting, working
group/BOF chairs and area directors put documents relevant to the
discussions to be held into the archives. Those people who plan to
attend a working group/BOF session should check the archives for
documents which need to be read. The documents are left in the
archives for about two months after the end of the IETF meeting.
On the host "ds.internic.net", documents are stored in the directory "/pub/current-ietf-docs" under subdirectories named for each area and then for each working group. For example, a document for the NISI Working Group, which is in the User Services Area, would be stored as "current-ietf-docs/usv/nisi/nisi-doc1.txt". Each area will also have a subdirectory called "bof", where documents to be discussed in BOF sessions will be placed. A directory called "plenary" will also be created under "/pub/current-ietf-docs" to put documents or viewgraphs related to a plenary session. Any filename conflicts will be resolved by the archive administrator working with the submitter of the document via e-mail.
It is important to note that the service is provided by the InterNIC and that the documents are submitted by the people who work on them. The IETF Secretariat does not manage or monitor the archive service.
Be Prepared
This topic cannot be stressed enough. As the IETF grows, it becomes
more and more important for attendees to arrive prepared for the
working group meetings they plan to attend. This doesn't apply only
to newcomers--everybody should come prepared.
Being prepared means having read the documents which the working group or BOF chair has distributed. It means having followed the discussions on the working group's mailing list or having reviewed the archives. For the working group/BOF chairs, it means getting all of the documents out early (i.e., several weeks) to give everybody time to read them and announcing an agenda and sticking to it.
At the chair's discretion, some time may be devoted to bringing new working group attendees up to speed. In fact, long lived working groups have occasionally held entire sessions which were introductory in nature. As a rule, however, a working group is not the place to go for training. Observers are always welcome, but they must realize that the work effort cannot be delayed for education. Anyone wishing to attend a working group for the first time might seek out the chair prior to the meeting and ask for some introduction.
Another thing for everybody to consider is that working groups go through phases. In the initial phase (say, the first two meetings), all ideas are welcome. The idea is to gather all the possible solutions together for consideration. In the development phase, a solution is chosen and developed. Trying to reopen issues which were decided more than a couple of meetings back is considered bad form. The final phase (the last two meetings) is where the "spit and polish" are applied to the architected solution. This is not the time to suggest architectural changes or open design issues already resolved. It's a bad idea to wait until the last minute to speak out if a problem is discovered. This is especially true for people whose excuse is that they hadn't read the documents until the day before a comments period ended.
Time at the IETF meetings is a precious thing. Working groups are encouraged to meet between IETF meetings, either in person or by video or telephone conference. Doing as much work as possible over the mailing lists would also reduce the amount of work which must be done at the meeting.
RFCs and Internet-Drafts
Originally, RFCs were just what the name implies: requests for
comments. The early RFCs were messages between the ARPANET
architects about how to resolve certain problems. Over the years,
RFCs became more formal. It reached the point that they were being
cited as standards, even when they weren't.
To help clear up some confusion, there are now two special sub-series within the RFCs: FYIs and STDs. The For Your Information RFC sub- series was created to document overviews and topics which are introductory. Frequently, FYIs are created by groups within the IETF User Services Area. The STD RFC sub-series was created to identify those RFCs which do in fact specify Internet standards.
Every RFC, including FYIs and STDs, have an RFC number by which they are indexed and by which they can be retrieved. FYIs and STDs have FYI numbers and STD numbers, respectively, in addition to RFC numbers. This makes it easier for a new Internet user, for example, to find all of the helpful, informational documents by looking for the FYIs amongst all the RFCs. If an FYI or STD is revised, its RFC number will change, but its FYI or STD number will remain constant for ease of reference.
There is also an RTR subseries of RFCs for Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne (RARE) Technical Reports. These are technical reports developed in the RARE community that are published as RFCs to provide easy access to the general Internet community.
Note: RARE no longer exists. It merged with EARN to become the Trans European Research & Education Networking Association (TERENA).
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the IETF. Any group or individual may submit a document for distribution as an Internet- Draft. These documents are valid for six months, and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted at any time. Guidelines require that an expiration date appear on every page of an Internet-Draft. It is not appropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them, other than as "working drafts" or "works in progress."
For additional information, read the following documents:
Detailed descriptions of current Working Groups, their charters, Internet-Drafts and RFCs, meeting registration, past meeting proceedings, current IESG activities/actions, and other information is available at the IETF Web site, www.ietf.org.
Tao
Pronounced "dow", Tao means "the way." It is the basic principle
behind the teachings of Lao-tse, a Chinese master. Its familiar
symbol is the black and white Yin-Yang circle.